Thursday, January 03, 2008

Winnipeg - still the murder capital of Canada?

Winnipeg is Canada's murder capital

Homicide is on my mind. Quebec City had no murders in 2007, or was it 2006? I'm not sure. Quebec City has approximately the same population as Winnipeg. Winnipeg rang in the New Year with two murders, one a shooting and the other a stabbing.

So far this year, Toronto had one homicide, and this made national news.

The Winnipeg shooting, as it turns out, was a pregnant woman whose two children were in the custody of their father. She earned her living as a prostitute. The house she lived in was allegedly a crack house. She was an indigenous person. Most of the murders that took place in Winnipeg last year happened in the neighbourhood where she lived. An area where original peoples live. She had been adopted by non-native family, yet chose to go home to her people.

This gives credence to my nature is stronger than nurture belief system.

And so, I'm wondering, is their a link between the large number of homicides in Winnipeg and the fact we have more indigenous people than any other province? And why, why do original peoples remain so disenfranchised?

I don't have an answer, and I'm a little tired of two things. Firstly I'm tired of non-native people stereotyping indigenous people, and I'm also tired of indigenous people proving the non-native people are right.

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